Switched Lives
by CamiKingst
Summary: Regina may have saved Storybrooke and defeated the curse once and for all, but there are things people never forget; messing with everyone's happy endings during twenty eight years, is without a doubt one of those. Emma is trying to help her and give her some hope, but soon enough Sheriff Swan will find out how hopeless can be the life Regina has to live daily. Set after mid S3.


DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. I own nothing but this fic idea, everything else belongs to the ABC studios and OUAT creators.

A/N: First of all I owe this chapter mostly to my beautiful Beta **tonguemarksonmymirror**, because without her, this would be awfully written.

Now there is not much place in the summary area so I couldn't do this properly... This story is set after season 3 winter's finale, but I avoided the painful goodbyes, so Emma is still in Storybrooke with Henry, Regina broke the curse and anyone went to the enchanted forest.

Please let me know if you like the story and if you think I should continue it.

* * *

**Chapter 1.**

Emma woke up in the morning feeling like she hadn't slept at all, what was ridiculous, as it was nearly noon and she was still in bed. Yet she felt tired and too lazy to even open her eyes, without considering the horrible headache she had.

Had she been drinking all night long? She tried to recall what had happened last night; she actually could remember everything perfectly, and she certainly could say she hadn't drunk a single glass of alcohol, but she did remembered an unpleasant talk she had had with Madame Mayor last night, and the moments after that when she returned home mentally blaming the brunette for the sort of horrible insults she had said. Then she had just gone to bed early and fell asleep easily, and that was it; end of story. So what were all this tiredness and headache from?

Well, it didn't matter anyway; she should be getting ready to change shifts with her dad at the station in about an hour. However, whether she felt good enough to go to work, or not was irrelevant, so she pulled herself out of bed.

She found her way to the bathroom, almost blinded because the room was more lit than what she would like, or her almost exploding brain could bear.

She opened the faucet and let the cold water run over her hands, and she soaked her face with it. But then, when she ran her hands over her hair, her eyes flew open as her hair was no longer there; well, it was actually there, but was not as long as it should be. It barely reached the back of her neck.

She was in shock, but it was not because of her hair, but because of her reflection in the enormous mirror in the bathroom in front of her. There was Mayor Mills looking back at her, shocked.

"What the actual heck?" Emma shouted, looking around; she was not in her apartment or her own bathroom. Instead she was in this fancy luxurious restroom and there outside the door, she could see a big king size bed she certainly should have noticed before. She returned her gaze to the mirror, and there, once again, was Regina's reflection looking back at her. How was this even possible?

She ran her hands over her face and moved her hands and body stupidly in front of the mirror, hoping the mayor's reflection didn't mimic them, but it was obvious that the reflection was not the mayor's but her own. She tried to breathe in and calm down; this must be some evil and twisted prank or revenge from Regina due to the argument they had had last night, and she was so not giving that woman the pleasure of seeing her freaking out. She was going to take a bath and get ready to go and face that unbearable woman as soon as possible, and she was so getting her body back!

Twenty minutes later, she entered the Mayor's office, both hands balled tightly in fists, high heels echoing on the ceramic tile, and body mercilessly squeezed into a tight pencil skirt, because apparently that was the only kind of clothes Regina Mills had in her closet.

"Give me my body back!" she cried in the office, before she noticed the mayor was not sitting there as she thought she would be, with a cocky smile and an arched eyebrow waiting for her to beg to get her body back. There was actually no one there.

Emma hit the floor with her heels in frustration and made her way back to the street as she headed to the station.

"Good morning, Madame Mayor," Charming politely saluted, barely looking at her. Was it just her impression or that had been the fakest smile Charming had ever given her? Her father just walked away, leaving the station and she entered her office

"I'm so glad you finally deigned to come over, Miss Swan, but I am a little disappointed that it took you so long, considering the gravity of the situation" said the mayor as she entered the office. Her pose was so stiff and cocky, with her ankles and her arms firmly crossed, that it was almost easy to forget that it was her own body that she was looking at. "I swear if I had to spend one more minute with Mr. Smiles and hugs, I'll become suicidal here…" the blonde woman said, drumming her fingers on her forearm.

"Oh yeah? Well, you could start by giving me my body back, because believe me, there wouldn't be so many hugs or smiles if you were in your own body!" Emma instantly regretted saying that as the blonde woman pursed her lips in answer and looked away and through the window. This made her vaguely remember the discussion they had had the night before, and how it had begun.

* * *

_It was almost midnight, and the town's entire population was gathered at Granny's, celebrating that the curse was finally over, almost entirely thanks to Regina. And yet, she was once again sitting alone at a table, and no one intended to talk to her; no one except Emma. But every time she tried to approach Regina, there was someone else hugging her gratefully. It was practically impossible to get to where the brunette was, and sadly she saw how the mayor once again got up ready to leave. She followed her to stop her, but when she approached the brunette, Leroy grabbed her by the shoulders, blocking her way out._

_"I'm telling you, Savior, thanks to you, Nova and I will have our happy ending. Maybe I should propose to her tonight," the dwarf told her._

_"Yeah, you should do that, "Emma answered, not even paying attention to the man._

_"Yeah! I will" Leroy half shouted half growled, and then left her alone as he tripped over his own feet. He was clearly drunk, but she wasn't paying any attention to the dwarf. She was instead getting to the door at last._

_By the time she got out, the mayor's car was already around the corner. She didn't think twice and got into her bug to follow the brunette._

_The mayor stopped in a place Emma knew so well by now; it was where August had taken her to have that first 'drink', and also where Regina had intended to kill her mother and her when they were trying to come back from the Enchanted Forest, but finally she had ended saving them for Henry. It was the same wishing well where Henry had tried to kill magic with dynamite once._

_She parked her bug a few feet from Regina's Benz and let her get out of the car before she followed her._

_"What are you doing here, Sheriff Swan?" Emma tried to ignore the scornful tone in the mayor's voice almost as desperately as she tried to ignore the tears she was seeing on her cheeks, because it was surprisingly painful to see her cry. "I asked you a question," continued the brunette, annoyed by her lack of response, tears still rolling down her face._

_"I… I was just… I came to…"_

_"I'm going to stop you there, because if you say 'I' one more time, I swear…"_

_"Sorry, it's just that I… sorry…saw when you left Granny's and…" she stopped for a moment, "I realized I didn't want you to leave, "she said, stumbling over words. At first, Regina looked surprised, but then she pursed her lips and turned around, placing both hands on the well's wall._

_"Yeah, of course you want me there; look at how everyone is happily avoiding me! Because why wouldn't they? I'm the Evil Queen" the mayor's voice broke._

_"I wasn't saying that…" the blonde started._

_"Oh! I can see that. You are the Savior; why would such a kind and perfect heroine even think about the suffering of the tale's witch?"_

_"Regina…" Emma rounded the well and stood in front of her._

_"What!?" the brunette lifted her gaze._

_"You must stop pushing everyone aside."_

_"Yeah! Because they are clearly desperately trying to be my friends!" she laughed ironically._

_"Maybe they aren't, but you are changing and they are noticing that…"_

_"Oh yeah, it shows…" Regina rolled her eyes._

_"Look, I know how you feel, but…"_

_"No, you don't!"_

_"Yes, I do!" Emma said, slamming both hands on the well wall, right in front of Regina's. "You try to seem like you don't care, but you are actually desperately looking for someone's attention, someone's love."_

_"You don't know me at all!"_

_"Well perhaps, but believe me, I wish I could put myself in your shoes, understand everything you are, but I can't! Can I?"_

_"Well, I wish I could put myself in your shoes and understand…" Emma smiled; maybe they were getting somewhere there, "how is that you annoyingly managed to ruin every single aspect of my life, and now come here pretending that you are my savior too, when the only thing you want is see me alone and broken," her smile vanished._

_"Regina, that's not…"_

_"Of course it's true! Don't try to deny it, because you might be the only person here I haven't managed to hurt so much, and yet you are the worst of them. You ruined my happy ending," the mayor stated, walking back to her car._

_"Controlling people's lives in a fake town is not a happy ending!" the blonde yelled at her back._

_"Fairytale endings aren't meant for everybody, but fake love or even fearful respect is better than having nothing, and now I have nothing, thanks to you, Sheriff Swan," the brunette took a little bow and then got into her car._

_"You have Henry," Emma reminded her._

_"Yes, I have Henry," she truly smiled just for a short second, "and yet he is still more your child than mine, despite all the years you abandoned him."_

_After that, and without saying anything else, the brunette left the place and a very pissed blonde behind. Emma got into her bug and headed home without noticing the red lit mist that was emitted from the well._

* * *

"Naturally, you think it's my fault," the blonde said, rolling her eyes, as if she already knew that was coming, "but believe it or not, I'm as annoyed as you are. Don't even think for a moment that I'm enjoying being in the body of a grown woman whose parents still treat like a five years old."

"They don't..." Emma started, "Okay they do, but ..."

"Besides," the blonde interrupted her, "at least I was doing my research while you were busy..." Regina gave the brunette a quick contemptuous glance "...sleeping. Now, this is what I found," she handed Emma a little glass bottle with a bunch of red dust inside.

"And what's this supposed to mean to me? Pixie dust? Maybe fairy dust?"

"You really don't know anything about magic, do you?"

"Well, I don't know; you're the expert, enlighten me!"

"This isn't pixie or fairy dust; this is quite more powerful magic than that," Regina said, taking the bottle from the brunette's hands. "This is pure and almost tangible magic," the woman took the dust out of the bottle and played with it in her hands, but it no longer seemed like dust; it was more like a very thick red mist."Whatever caused this magic is so strong not even both of our magic together could erase it."

"So we are trapped in each other's body, like, forever; that's what you're saying?"

"You know what happens with magic? It doesn't come with a manual, like the computers you like so much, but it does come with that little factory default that sends the complete software to hell. We just need to find that little mistake in the contract."

"That means we're going to wait like this until you get a better idea of what we can do with our problem, right? So are we pretending to be each other?"

"Oh no, dear; I can get a brunette wig, and you can get one with blonde curls, and we can keep going with our lives as if nothing had happened. I'm sure no one would notice," the blonde answered, annoyed.

"Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!"

"Actually, I woke up in the wrong bed this morning! Now shut up and go take care of the mayor's issues, if you can," she gave the other woman a crooked smile, as if she actually knew she wouldn't be capable of doing that.

"You think I won't be able to do some boring paperwork and make a few polite calls? Then I can't wait to see you when you receive your first night call for a fight at The Rabbit Hole," Emma smiled back at her.

"Oh! Yeah, so you have to arrest some drunken men sometimes, what's the big deal?"

"We'll see who the one who quits first is."

"You're forgetting something, Miss Swan," the blonde said, rising from her seat and approaching the brunette as she rounded her seat and placed her hand on her shoulders. "I'm the Evil Queen; that's what they all decided to call me, and I never surrender," she whispered in Emma's ear from behind, sending goose-bumps all over her skin.

"That's great, because I don't do that either," Emma responded, turning her head to look at her, their faces just inches apart. "Hope you have an exciting fieldwork day today, Sheriff Mills."

"Hope you find the mountains of paperwork I have been procrastinating all week enjoyable, Mayor Swan" she said with a smirk.

"I certainly will," the brunette said, rising and walking to the door, where she stopped and turned around. "I almost forgot; I signed myself as a night volunteer at the pet shelter for the next two weeks. It's at nine; don't be late, today is dog bath night."

"I don't do pet babysitting," Regina stated.

"Am I hearing surrender, Madame Mills?"

"Not in a million years, Swan."

"That's what I thought," was the last thing the brunette said before she left the sheriff department and headed to her brand new office at the Town Hall.


End file.
